Dark Matter: WIMPs, FIMPs, and Primordial Black Holes

by Prof. James Unwin (U of Illinois, Chicago)

Thursday 13 Feb 2025, 14:30 → 15:30 Asia/Kolkata

HBA Foyer

The dark matter phenomenon is the realisation that astrophysical and
cosmological observations appear to indicate invisible mass sources.
There are many candidates that could account for dark matter; among
the most prominent proposals are weakly interacting massive particles
(WIMPs), feebly interacting massive particles (FIMPs), and Primordial
Black Holes (PBH). I will start by briefly outlining the case for dark
matter and each of these proposed resolutions. Subsequently, I will
discuss the idea that cosmology may give rise to appreciable
populations of both particle dark matter (WIMPs/FIMPs) and PBH with
the combined mass density providing the observationally inferred value
of the dark matter abundance today. In particular, I will highlight
that dark matter particles will generically form halos around the PBH
leading to enhanced constraints on this scenario from indirect
detection searches.